Fixing The Insurance Industry’s Multi-Billion Dollar Churn Problem

Katherine Burger is Editorial Director of Insurance & Technology and Bank Systems & Technology, members of the InformationWeek Financial Services of TechWeb. She assumed leadership of Insurance & Technology in 1991 and of Bank Systems & Technology in 2003.

In addition to directing the editorial strategy of both publications, Kathy is charged with extending the brands through the creation and development of new products, editorial supplements, special publications and live and online events (including I&T's Executive Summit, BS&T's Executive Summit, and live custom events and roundtables on behalf of leading technology companies). She also oversees the brands' daily e-mail newsletters, as well as the Web sites and related online offerings for BS&T and I&T (www.banktech.com, www.insurancetech.com).

Kathy is a frequent speaker/participant at industry/association/sponsored conferences and events, and also has presented at a number of technology company user group and sales force events, including those produced by IBM, SAS, Microsoft, CSC, Sun Microsystems, Unisys and Oracle, as well as numerous Webcasts sponsored by industry leaders including IBM, Oracle, SAP, SAS, Microsoft and CSC.

During Kathy's publishing and media career, in addition to financial services technology she also has covered the real estate and retailing industries. She is a graduate of Carleton College.

Ellen Carney

Principal Analyst, eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals,

Forrester Research, Inc.

Ellen Carney

Ellen is a principal analyst serving insurance eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals. Her research focuses on the eBusiness strategies, technologies, adoption trends, and best practices of property and casualty, life, group, and health insurers globally. Ellen works with insurance clients to understand how market forces are changing how consumers, groups, and distributors engage with insurance carriers and the role that technology plays in maximizing new opportunities.

Ellen most recently served the technology sales enablement role, writing research and providing advisory on how technology vendors sell and market their solution value to industry buyers, with a particular focus on the insurance, banking, and securities industries.

Ellen brings nearly 20 years of experience in delivering technical and professional services to clients in a variety of industries and markets. She joined Forrester from ThruPoint, a New York-based professional services firm, where she was a principal consultant focusing on IT service business strategy to Global 100 clients in securities, banking, and insurance; telecommunications; and media and entertainment. Before joining ThruPoint, Ellen was a director and principal analyst for Gartner, following the infrastructure services market, including consulting, support, and managed services. Prior to her Gartner experience, Ellen spent seven years in a variety of sales enablement and support roles at the former Cabletron Systems, including strategic bid and proposal management; inclusion on approved vendor lists for corporate and global accounts; and master sales and GSA contract management.

Ellen has presented on vertical industry and role-based marketing in a variety of Forrester and client events. She has been cited in a number of publications, including Forbes, Fast Company, The Wall Street Journal, Best's Review, Insurance & Technology, and American Banker.

Ellen received a B.S. in economics from Southern New Hampshire University.

Larry Hogan

Global Director, Insurance Industry Solutions

Thunderhead.com

Larry Hogan

Larry’s entire career has been focused on designing, developing and managing innovative IT-enabled business transformation initiatives for the insurance and financial services industry. For the past 20+ years , he has been dedicated exclusively to solutions and strategies which dramatically improve how Insurance and Financial Services organizations communicate with their customers, agents, employees and other key stakeholders. Larry has been responsible for Thunderhead.com’s Insurance Solutions since 2008. Prior to joining Thunderhead.com, Larry was the Insurance Industry Executive at Exstream Software, spending 5 years with this organization, and was the Director of Product Marketing, Insurance and Financial Services Sector at the e-billing, e-statement presentment software pioneer BlueGill Technologies; transitioning to an expanded role after CheckFree Corporation (now part of FiServ) acquired BlueGill in 2000. During much of the 1990’s Larry was a Senior Consultant within Capgemini’s Global Insurance Division. Larry is a graduate of Michigan State University.

A harsh reality for insurance executives is that your most likely defector in the coming year happens to be the one you most want to keep: those long-time—and profitable—customers. But in today’s digital financial services environment, shaped by consumerization, personalization and expectations of real-time interactions, policyholders will bolt if they don’t feel that their insurers value their business.

That customer value is defined and promoted in all the different ways that insurers and agents engage and communicate with their customers. That happens across an expanding mix of channels, with mobile and social media interactions becoming increasingly important. Failure to take advantage of these multi-channel opportunities with a consistent, compliant and customized approach to communications, is a key contributor to the dreaded churn problem.

In this free, one-hour webinar, Insurance & Technology, Thunderhead.com and a guest speaker from Forrester Research, Inc. will look at how simple changes in communication and engagement strategies can drive long-term impact on insurers’ retention strategies.